Sergi Mingote and his mates on Lhotse are currently tucked into their tent at Camp 2. Cramped as they are, they will have to sardine even closer from now on, since a fourth member has joined their little one-tent brigade: Ali Sadpara of Pakistan.
Ali Sadpara.
Sadpara has climbed all the 8000’ers in Pakistan, including Nanga Parbat four times. He played a leading role in the first winter ascent, along with Simone Moro and Alex Txikon. He also joined the rescue attempt of Daniele Nardi and Tom Ballard this past winter.
Tomorrow, they will move up to Camp 3, the last one shared with Everest’s normal south side route. From there, they’ll diverge to Lhotse’s upper slopes, where no ropes have been fixed this year. The four men plan to leave for the summit at 4am local time on May 16. That is a relatively late start, considering that they are progressing without Sherpas or supplementary O2. Still, they are confident that they’ll be able to climb fast enough to stay ahead of the larger expedition groups.
Sherpa teams left Everest Base Camp during the weekend to fix ropes on the upper sections. (See video from Seven Summit Treks here.) Yesterday, they reached Camp 4 at the South Col and could summit tomorrow, Tuesday. Hundreds will follow close behind, if the weather holds.
Kami Rita Sherpa, leading the Indian Army expedition, could bag his 23rd Everest summit tomorrow. Photo: Seven Summit Treks
Meanwhile, on Kangchenjunga…
Unconfirmed reports state that nearly 30 climbers, including 15 from the Seven Summit Treks, reached Camp 3 today, despite high winds. Viridiana Alvarez of Mexico says that she is feeling well and ready to move up to Camp 4 tomorrow. They plan to launch their summit bid in the early hours of May 15.
After succeeding on K2 last year, Viridiana Alvarez has returned to tackle Kangchenjunga. Photo: Viridiana Alvarez
